Letterbook 2

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

Yours of
the 11th Dec. post Marked
13th. is recived & I have this day
made a purchase according to your request, of 60 acres of land off the
South Side, of the south east quarter, of
Section 9. of Township six north, of range 8 west, of the 4th principal Meridian in the tract appropriated
for Military bounties, for the Sum of $480. I.E. $8. per Acre, which is
less than its present value, & that on account of Previous advances on
your part.

, and of an excellent
quality though perhaps not quite so great a proportion of timber as
you would have preferred, yet it was the best chance which presented
itself to me at present, We do not long expect to be dependent on wood,
from this immediate vicinity for firing our
city

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

, there
are, unquestionably, inexaustable mines of coal in the neighborhood,
not far beneath the surface, which we expect will shortly be opened,
furnishing an abundance of fuel at a moderate price, & also lights for
the
City

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

& have his deed to you for the Land, & I shall improve the
earliest opportunity. to forward it to the Recorders Office, for entry,
and after that is accomplished I will file it away with my Deeds, holding
it subject to your order.

The certificate
of deposite referred to in your letter, July
12— 1841 for——

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

Yours of
the 11th Dec. post Marked
13th.is recived & I have this day
made a purchase according to your request, of 60 acres of land off the
South Side, of the south east quarter, <of>
Section 9. of Township six north, of range 8 west, of the 4th principal Meridian in the tract appropriated
for Military bounties, for the Sum of $480. I.E. $8. per Acre, which is
less than its present value, & that on account of Previous advances on
your part.

, and of an excellent
quality though perhaps not quite so great a proportion of timber as
you would have preferred, yet it was the best chance which presented
itself to me at present, We do not long expect to be dependent on wood,
from this immediate vicinity for firing our
city

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

, there
are, unquestionably, inexaustable mines of coal in the neighborhood,
not far beneath the surface, which we expect will shortly be opened,
furnishing an abundance of fuel at a moderate price, & also lights for
the
City

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

& have his deed to you for the Land, & I shall improve the
earliest opportunity. to forward it to the Recorders Office, for entry,
and after that is accomplished I will file it away with my Deeds, holding
it subject to your order.

The certificate
of deposite referred to in your letter, July
12— 1841 for——

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

Located twelve miles from western Missouri border. Permanently settled, platted, and designated county seat, 1827. Hub for steamboat travel on Missouri River. Point of departure for Santa Fe Trail. Population in 1831 about 300. Mormon population by summer...

,
Missouri. JS’s missive emphasized the importance of record keeping and history
writing in the young church. JS began by noting that he wished “to communicate
some things which . . . are laying great with weight upon my mind.” He then
observed, “Firstly, it is the duty of the lord[’s] clerk whom he has appointed
to keep a hystory and a general church reccord of all things that transpire in
Zion . . . and also there manner of life and the faith and works.” (Letter to William W.
Phelps, 27 Nov. 1832.)

This emphasis
on record keeping was not widespread at the time. Scholar Dean C. Jessee has
observed, “So primitive were some aspects of record keeping in
nineteenth-century America that much of the early Latter-day Saint experience
was a pioneering effort. . . . Although Mormon record keeping was inaugurated
by [an] 1830 revelation, details for carrying out
that commandment were largely hammered out on the anvil of experience in the
years that followed.” (Dean C. Jessee, “The Reliability of Joseph Smith’s
History,” Journal of Mormon History 3 [1976]: 27.) During
a brief span in the early 1830s,
JS and those working under his direction commenced
the systematic collecting and recording of critical documents pertaining to
church governance and administration. From that time to the end of JS’s life,
correspondence-copying, revelation-recording, minute-taking, journal-keeping,
and history-writing activities remained imperative commitments.

Items of
correspondence were first recorded in what was subsequently designated
Letterbook 1.
Created from circa November 1832 to
circa August 1835, it consisted of ninety-three pages preserving a
record of early church-related communications dated
14 June 1829 through 4 August
1835. A second letterbook, featured here, was apparently begun in
1839 and continued to circa
summer 1843. It became a
repository primarily for letters, but also other items dated from
17 June 1829 through 9 February
1843. Items were copied into that volume, later designated Letterbook 2,
by JS-appointed scribes including
James
Mulholland

1 Oct. 1811–27 Aug. 1841. Clerk, editor. Born in Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Member of Methodist church. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1834. Baptized into LDS church by Parley P. Pratt, May 1836, in Upper Canada. Ordained an elder by John Taylor, 22...

, and
George
Walker. Letterbook 2 contains over 150 items of correspondence and other
documents, arranged primarily in chronological order. An
index created at the time
outlines the contents of the 246 pages of letters and other documents.
Previously, the volume had been used as a business ledger for the Rigdon, Smith
and Company store in
Chester

Surveyed 1796 and 1801. Area settled, 1801–1802. Initially called Wooster. Name changed to Chester and officially incorporated as township, 1816. Population in 1830 about 550. Population in 1840 about 960. JS purchased land for store in Chester, 1836–1837...

A title page
designates the volume as “Copies of Letters, &c. &c. 1839, AD.” The
first entry in the
letterbook, labeled “Speech of General Clarke, To the Saints at Far West. 6th.
Novr 1838,” contains the text of General
John B. Clark

27 Aug. 1793–27 May 1840. Hatter. Born at Pittsfield, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts. Son of William Partridge and Jemima Bidwell. Moved to Painesville, Geauga Co., Ohio. Married Lydia Clisbee, 22 Aug. 1819, at Painesville. Initially a Universal Restorationist...

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

, respectively, written in
March and April 1839 to JS and
other prisoners confined in the
jail in
Liberty

Located in western Missouri, thirteen miles north of Independence. Settled 1820. Clay Co. seat, 1822. Incorporated as town, May 1829. Following expulsion from Jackson Co., 1833, many Latter-day Saints found refuge in Clay Co., with church leaders and other...

, Missouri;
two letters sent by JS and Elias Higbee while in
Washington DC

Created as district for seat of U.S. federal government by act of Congress, 1790, and named Washington DC, 1791. Named in honor of George Washington. Headquarters of executive, legislative, and judicial branches of U.S. government relocated to Washington ...

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

1 June 1801–29 Aug. 1877. Carpenter, painter, glazier, colonizer. Born at Whitingham, Windham Co., Vermont. Son of John Young and Abigail (Nabby) Howe. Brought up in Methodist household; later joined Methodist church. Moved to Sherburne, Chenango Co., New...

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

18 July 1789–14 Feb. 1852. Ferry owner, farmer, sheriff, politician. Born in Fayette Co., Kentucky. Son of Thomas Carlin and Elizabeth Evans. Baptist. Moved to Missouri, by 1803. Moved to Illinois, by 1812. Served in War of 1812. Married Rebecca Hewitt, 13...

. The ledger also preserves nine sets of
minutes from various meetings, five petitions concerning the Saints’ treatment
in Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...

JS revelation, dated 19 Jan. 1841, instructed Saints to build boarding house for travelers and immigrants. Construction of planned three-story building to be funded by fifty-dollar shares. Cornerstone laid, 2 Oct. 1841, but building never completed beyond...

Became part of Northwest Territory of U.S., 1787. Admitted as state, 1818. Population in 1840 about 480,000. Population in 1845 about 660,000. Plentiful, inexpensive land attracted settlers from northern and southern states. Following expulsion from Missouri...

,
dated 9 February 1843. Though there are a
substantial number of blank pages preceding the
index beginning on
manuscript page 369, it is not known why the copying of documents into
Letterbook 2 ceased. However, the following circumstances regarding JS’s clerks
may have been factors:
James
Mulholland

1 Oct. 1811–27 Aug. 1841. Clerk, editor. Born in Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Member of Methodist church. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1834. Baptized into LDS church by Parley P. Pratt, May 1836, in Upper Canada. Ordained an elder by John Taylor, 22...

Area first settled by Swedish immigrants, 1628. William Penn received grant for territory from King Charles II, 1681, and established British settlement, 1682. Philadelphia was center of government for original thirteen U.S. colonies from time of Revolutionary...

began extensive work on Joseph Smith’s history in
early 1843 while continuing to
perform other clerical and secretarial duties. Documents dated
after 9 February 1843 that might have been
expected to be copied into the letterbook were, in many instances, recorded in
JS’s history. In any event, the record closed with the
9 February 1843 letter, and there is no
evidence that a third letterbook was either contemplated or begun.

1 Oct. 1811–27 Aug. 1841. Clerk, editor. Born in Great Driffield, Yorkshire, England. Member of Methodist church. Immigrated to Upper Canada, 1834. Baptized into LDS church by Parley P. Pratt, May 1836, in Upper Canada. Ordained an elder by John Taylor, 22...

, and
George
Walker; 271 pages, including twenty-six pages of an index; JS Collection,
CHL.

This
letterbook was inscribed in a large-size, commercially produced ledger book
measuring 14¼ × 9½ × 1¾ inches (36 × 24 × 4 cm) with leather-covered boards. It
contains 238 leaves. The leaves, which measure 13½ × 8⅞ inches (34 × 23 cm),
are vertically ruled with eight single red lines and three interspersed double
red lines and horizontally ruled with thirty-nine blue lines and one double red
line at the top or bottom of the page depending on how the ledger book was
turned. The book was originally used as a financial ledger book for
Rigdon

19 Feb. 1793–14 July 1876. Tanner, farmer, minister. Born at St. Clair, Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania. Son of William Rigdon and Nancy Gallaher. Joined United Baptists, ca. 1818. Preached at Warren, Trumbull Co., Ohio, and vicinity, 1819–1821. Married Phebe...

,
Smith, and Co., beginning in
September 1836; eighty-three pages of financial
entries were inscribed. In April 1839, the book
was inverted, and what would have been the back of the book for the financial
firm became the front of a letterbook. A title is inscribed on the blank leaf
before the letterbook that reads “Copies of Letters, &c. &c. 1839 AD.”
Following the title page, there are 245 pages of inscribed letters. There is a
mix of contemporaneous letters, earlier letters, church records, and church
business records. The first fifty-one pages of Letterbook 2 contain letters on
the 1838
Missouri

Area acquired by U.S. in Louisiana Purchase, 1803, and established as territory, 1812. Missouri Compromise, 1820, admitted Missouri as slave state, 1821. Population in 1830 about 140,000; in 1836 about 240,000; and in 1840 about 380,000. Mormon missionaries...

difficulties, and many of them appear to be copies of letters that JS or others
received while in jail in
Liberty, Missouri, in
winter 1838–1839. These pages
also feature copies of letters sent to and from church leaders in
Quincy

Located on high limestone bluffs east of Mississippi River, about forty-five miles south of Nauvoo. Settled 1821. Adams Co. seat, 1825. Incorporated as town, 1834. Received city charter, 1840. Population in 1835 about 800; in 1840 about 2,300; and in 1845...

Located near middle of western boundary of state, bordering Mississippi River. European Americans settled area, 1820s. From bank of river, several feet above high-water mark, ground described as nearly level for six or seven blocks before gradually sloping...

, Illinois, in
spring and early summer 1839;
JS’s journal provides evidence that he was “employed dictating letters and
attending to the various business of the Church” during this time,
indicating that this volume was an active letterbook, with letters being
contemporaneously copied into it. On page 52, following a
27 June 1839 letter and a
12 November 1837 letter, the copies of much
earlier letters began to be inscribed; these letters include a letter
originally written on 29 July 1833 by
John
Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

. Copying these documents may have coincided with the writing of
JS’s history or with the writing of the history of the difficulties in Missouri
per JS’s instructions in March 1839.
The active recording of contemporaneous letters continued after these few
earlier letters until February 1843.